Coming to 15 nabes near you: taller buildings

They will be targeted for increased density and will become the focus of Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable-housing plan.

Photo: Buck Ennis
City Planning Chair Carl Weisbrod said East New York would be among those neighborhoods targeted for rezoning.

City Planning Chairman Carl Weisbrod told the City Council Thursday that his agency would target as many as 15 neighborhoods across the five boroughs for taller buildings and increased density to help achieve Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal of building and preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years.

East New York in Brooklyn will be one of those neighborhoods. As for the other 14, Mr. Weisbrod said that is still being studied.

“East New York is the first of our 15 areas of opportunity,” Mr. Weisbrod said. “We are in the process now of beginning to identify the other neighborhoods we will be launching similar efforts in.”

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Despite prodding from Council Finance Committee co-chair David Greenfield, Mr. Weisbrod would not identify any additional neighborhoods that will be targeted for upzoning.

East New York has been “left behind even as many other parts of Brooklyn have thrived,” he added.

“We have developed a framework for growth and revitalization that can create the opportunity for thousands of units of new affordable housing, much needed retail, jobs and services, and that also addresses the physical infrastructure needs of the area,” Mr. Weisbrod said. “We believe East New York now welcomes increased density because it understands the benefits it can bring.”

That said, the other 14 neighborhoods that will become the focus of the de Blasio administration’s affordable housing effort will be identified after consultation with community organizations and local elected officials. The City Planning Commission expects to release its analysis for those communities in the coming months.

The agency is seeking $8 million more in its fiscal 2015 budget in order to fund the hiring of 28 staffers, many of whom will be placed in the planning commission’s borough offices. It is also asking for $3.1 million to pay for relocation from the agency’s “deteriorated and dysfunctional” headquarters at 22 Reade St., Mr. Weisbrod said.